Wrongful Death

After four days of public vilification in which his professional ethics have been challenged, a lawyer for Danieal Kelly's estate has hired his own attorney to try to "set the record straight. " Veteran Center City litigator George Bochetto yesterday confirmed that he had been hired by Brian Mildenberg, one of two lawyers representing the estate of Danieal Kelly, the 14-year-old girl whose death by starvation in 2006 has resulted in criminal charges against her parents, family friends, and public and private social workers used by the city's Department of Human Services.

  A UNIVERSITY of Pennsylvania fraternity has agreed that a deficient stairway railing at its house contributed to the death of a man who fell about 30 feet over it after a New Year's Eve party in 2011. Phi Kappa Sigma International Fraternity Inc. agreed to pay more than $3 million to the plaintiffs before the start of a wrongful death negligence trial. It also agreed to pay $375,000 to Suds Beer Store in Trevose, Bucks County. Matthew Crozier, 20, a John Carrol University student and former La Salle College High basketball standout, died in a fall from the second floor during the party at the house at 3539 Locust Walk.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the Deptford School District contending that school officials were negligent for not protecting a teenage runner from sexual harassment by William Corsey 3d, her track coach. Corsey pleaded guilty in February to having sexual contact with two teenagers - including the girl who filed the suit - and is serving an eight-year sentence in state prison. Corsey's son, 19-year-old Billy Corsey, was convicted of murdering the boyfriend of the runner who filed the suit, and was sentenced last month to 40 years in prison.

A year ago, a 37-year-old mentally retarded Secane woman suffered a slow death alone in her apartment over several weeks. Her sister contends she was ignored by the organization that had promised to take care of her. The organization declined to comment yesterday. The woman's sister, Kathleen Willson, filed suit Wednesday in Delaware County Court. Anita Little, her sister, failed to report to her job at the Elwyn-Concord Work Activity Center on March 2, 1994, the suit says.

The widow of Olympic wrestler David Schultz has settled her wrongful-death claim for a record amount against John E. du Pont, the multimillionaire who shot Schultz to death nearly four years ago in Newtown Square. The exact award to Nancy Schultz will be kept confidential at the request of lawyers, but those familiar with the drawn-out negotiations say the total will be about $35 million. According to a trade journal that watches such cases, that figure would be the largest award resulting from a wrongful-death suit ever paid directly by one person.

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton returned to work Wednesday following a nearly yearlong suspension for his role in the team's bounty program. "We're at a point where it's time for closure. It's time for us as a team, it's time for us as a league, to take this next step forward," Payton said. Goodell lifted Payton's suspension Tuesday, nearly two weeks earlier than expected. Payton said he has not spoken to former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who remains suspended indefinitely, and "I have no interest in talking to Gregg.

The parents of a woman who was killed in a car accident and her sister who was severely injured in the wreck filed a lawsuit yesterday in Common Pleas Court seeking monetary damages. Dennis J. Sweeney and his wife, Catherine Sweeney, of Pennsauken, sued for wrongful death and survivorship, punitive damages and personal injuries as a result of the accident Aug. 2 on Interstate 95. Their daughter Catherine D. Sweeney, 23, was a passenger in a car driven by another daughter, Kelly Ann Sweeney, 26, when SEPTA ParaTransit driver Michael Graham - who police said was drunk - drove his van over the median of I-95 and crushed the women's car. The suit seeks unspecified damages for the negligent hiring practices of corporations involved and the reckless, drunken driving of Graham, 36, who is in custody awaiting a preliminary hearing on charges including vehicular homicide while intoxicated.

The family of Moses Walker, Jr., the Philadelphia Police Officer killed in an attempted stickup last August, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, saying state officials caused Walker's death by allowing his alleged killer to roam the streets when he should have been behind bars. "Officer Walker's murder occurred as the result of a systemic breakdown," said Michael F. Barrett, one of the attorneys representing Walker's family, at a news conference at his Center City office.

Producer Steven Bochco's new crime series Brooklyn South is in the same vein as his previous hits, Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue: violent, tough-talking, edgy, provocative. If you liked them, you'll probably like this one, too. Peopled by a mostly unknown cast, Brooklyn South will premiere at 10 tonight on CBS (Channel 3). Probably the only two names you'll recognize are those of James B. Sikking, who played Lt. Howard Hunter on Hill Street, here portraying Lt. Stan Jones, and Michael DeLuise, familiar to many for his role as Andy Sipowicz Jr. on NYPD Blue, here cast as officer Phil Roussakoff.